Amédée Bollée

France, 1885 – 1922

Amédée Bollée fils, Le Mans, Sarthe

The Bollée family were bell-founders of Le Mans and Amédée père(father) had made a number of experimental steam carriages and tractors from 1873 onwards. Young Amédée Bollée’s first design, in which he was helped by his father, was a large Amédée Bollée steam mail coach built to the order of the Marquis de Brox in 1885, which cost the vast sum of 30.000 francs (about £1.180). The same year, Amédée Bollée built a small steam car of entirely his own design, but soon afterwards turned to the petrol engine. Years of experiment led to the first production car for sale in 1896, an Amédée Bollée vis-à-vis with a 6hp -2 cylinder horizontal engine, and belt drive. One of these cars ran in the Paris-Marseilles-Paris race, but crashed into a tree. A few cars were made for sale in 1895, in which year de Dietrich took a license for manufacture in Germany. Shortly afterwards Leesdorfer did the same in Austria. In 1898 an Amédée Bollée racing car was built with a streamlined body, probably the first use of streamlining for racing. Driven by Giraud, one of these Amédée Bollée’s was 3rd in the Paris-Amsterdam race, while Loysel won the Bordeaux-Biarritz race.
In 1899 an Amédée Bollée 20hp 4-cylinder racing car was made, with much lower lines. Production cars of this period had 10 or 12hp 2-cylinder engines, and large curved gilled-tube radiators. Vertical 4-cylinder engines appeared in about 1904, and steering-column gear change in 1906. Up to 1914 Amédée Bolée made cars in very small numbers, not more than 30 to 40 cars per year. They were bought by a largely aristocratic clientele, including the Marquis de Brox who was evidently sufficiently pleased with his early Amédée Bollée steam coach to order seven Bollée cars in all. The 1914 range consisted of two 4-cylinder Amédée Bollée cars for sale, both chain-driven, a 16hp and a 30hp, the latter of 6.333cc. A few Amédée Bollée cars were assembled after the war from pre-war parts, and a 20cv 6-cylinder model was announced in 1922.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG

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